Welcome to Lizzie Harper’s Website!

Illustrated this Blackbird nest today, such a treat.

Knitting the grasses and twigs together and balancing the lights and darks took ages,but was a loveky autumnal thing to work on. And the beautiful blue speckled eggs at the end! Totally different colour and texture. Far more green in that hue than I`d expected.

I love sitting in the studio listening to podcasts or the radio, building an illustration. Stopping to make a cup of tea every now and then.

This was a private commission, and, oddly, only the 3rd nest I`ve ever painted.

#blackbird #turdusmerula #nest ##naturalscienceillustration ...

Very very excited to say that the books I`ve been working on are ready for pre-order!

I`ve just posted about the first one "Art in the Field: Wildflowers"; this one is "Art in the Field: Fungi" and it focuses on drawing fungi and mushrooms. It covers drawing techniques & exercises, pencil skills, watercolour tips, & step by step projects for all levels of ability...

https://www.google.com/search?q=9781446318669

These books not only give my guidance on how to observe nature, draw, use graphite and watercolour, and enjoy exploring the amazing marvels of the Fungi kingdom; they also double as journals and sketchbooks with paper within the volume to create your own graphite work.

With step by step projects, and a whole lot of encouragement, the emphasis is on enjoying drawing and seeing and not getting tangled up with worries about getting anything wrong...

There`s a whole lot of information on the anatomy of fungi too, so you`ll understand what you`re drawing and painting.

I really hope they help people enjoy drawing and painting #fungi, and offer a gateway to the world of #botanicalillustration

The photo is of me painting the gills of the humble grocery store Mushroom, one of the species I do a pencil step by step of in the book. There`s also hints on how to take the project further and do a watercolour of a Mushroom, if you wish.

The second is my own photo of the completed pencil illustration of the Penny bun Boletus edulis. The illustration shows the reticulation on the stipe, the sticky cap, alongside my pencil and eraser.

You`ll be pleased to know a professional photographer took the photos for the book, we haven`t relied on my snapshots!

#fungi #botanicalillustration #stepbystep

@DandCbooks @BookmarkedHub ...

Very very excited to say that the books I`ve been working on are ready for pre-order!

The first one, "Art in the Field: Wildflowers" focuses on drawing flowers and covers drawing techniques & exercises, pencil skills, watercolour tips, & step by step projects for all levels...

https://www.google.com/search?q=9781446318652

These books not only give my guidance on how to observe nature, draw, use graphite and watercolour, and enjoy exploring the amazing marvels of wildflowers; they also double as journals and sketchbooks with paper within the volume to create your own graphite work.

With step by step projects, and a whole lot of encouragement, the emphasis is on enjoying drawing and seeing and not getting tangled up with worries about getting it wrong...

There`s a whole lot on botany too, so you`ll understand what you`re drawing and painting.

I really hope they help people enjoy drawing and painting wildflowers, and offer a gateway to the world of botanical illustration and sciart

The photo is of me painting the tip of the leaf of a Dandelion Taraxacum spc, one of the species I do a pencil step by step of in the book. There`s also hints on how to take the project further and do a watercolour of a Dandelion, if you wish.

The second is my own photo of the completed pencil illustration of the Poppy Papaver rheos. The illustration shows the papery petals, alongside my pencil and eraser, and the (slightly blurry, in my photo) poppy I was drawing.

You`ll be pleased to know a professional photographer took the photos for the book, we haven`t relied on my snapshots!

@dandcbooks @bookmarkedhub

#wildflowers #stepbystep #botanicalillustration ...

These are three of the enormous variety of fungi that are currenlty fruiting in and around Hay-on-Wye (where I live).

I was lucky enough to get to paint all three from life, while selling prints and cards in Hay castle, and chatting to visitors to the @Fungitown festival last weekend

They are the Brown rollrim Paxillus involutus, poisonous with decurrent yellow gills stretching down the stipe, and a distinctive brown in-rolled wavy edge.

Then there`s the wonderful and locally rare Echinoderma hystrix This beautiful little white fungus does not have an English name. It is covered all over in brownish black scales, including on the stipe. There are small dark red blobs where the white gills touch the cap edge, these are fluid produced in a process called guttation

The final species I illustrated over the festival is the #scaberstalk boletes leccinum cyanobasaileucum. It has a very domed dark brown cap, a textured stipe (with soil at the base) and pale spongy hymeium. I included slug damage on the cap where the pale flesh shows through the brown colouration.

#naturalhistoryillustration #sciart #fungi ...

All three of these gorgeous fungi have been found in fungal forays @fungitownhay this weekend, along with about 100 or more other species.

The first is Sulphur Tuft Hypholoma fasciculare, common on tree stumps. The second is the British Earthstar Geastrum britannicum, which is really rather rare, and found in a local churchyard, and the third is Plums and Custard Fungus tricholomopsis rutilans, also found in the same churchyard.

Checking out the table of finds in @hay_castle is a real eye opener - so much variety and so many beautiful fungi, mostly growing on our doorstep.

Come and join us, ill be painting in the gallery upstairs all day.

#Fungitown #hayonwye #botanicalillustration @fungitownhay ...